STORM THE FORT

Where has the season gone....I still remember thinking about doing my first ever 70.3 and now I have completed 2 and also most recently the longest race of my life. The season has zipped by and the night and mornings are dark again,  the weather is cooling off and the season of good will and celebration is in sight (oh how I do love Christmas). Autumn is a magical time of year with lots to look at and many exciting things happening! 

STORM THE FORT DUATHLON 

What a race....

Truly one of the most challenging races I have ever been involved in. Tough from start to finish, fast, tactical and very fun!!! 

The start went off as usual, and with a front pack of 5/6 runners is was always going to be hard to know just how much to put in during the first run. It was a half Mara trail run and to be honest it was enough on its own! Hahah. The pack broke into 3 and stayed that way for the whole race. Chopping and changing throughout. I was leading the first run coming back towards T1 by around 30 seconds, but with all the up down motion I needed an un planned toilet stop and then I watched 2nd and 3rd run past! Very annoying, as I know they were both stronger on the bike than me.

A quick transition brought me back some time and onto the bike leg. Starting with a climb out of Clun, it then leveled out but not for long, before a 3k long ascent up the Kerry Ridgeway.  After 55k came two of the biggest climbs I have ever encountered in a race, one after another, leg sapping to say the least. The first climb just went on and on. After 80k on the bike I started to feel broken and keep looking back expecting to be passed but every else was struggling just as much. Coming into T2 without being passed on the bike was a great feeling, it meant I could just chase the front two down. Although with legs like lead after the toughest first run and bike segments I have ever completed in a duathlon it was going to be hard. I ran at what felt like a snail’s pace to begin, and up yet another hill (felt like a mountain). I clawed back a lot of time on second place, and coming over the last hill I start to chase him down to the finish and the sprint is on, but he had a kick left and held on.

 

The race was epic and one for anybody who likes a challenge, it most certainly lived up to being one of the toughest, if not the toughest LD duathlon in the UK. The feeling at the finish was of pure accomplishment and achievement!

It's been two weeks and my body still isn't quite there, training however is back to normal and now onto winter challenges, xc and building for 2017! But first....some warm cycling in the mountains of Benidorm!!!